


Enthusiasm

by Styfas



Category: The Terror (TV 2018)
Genre: Concern about age difference, Fade to Black, First Kiss, M/M, Oh - forgot to add Dialogue Heavy, Ratings: I hate them. I'm calling this T, Tell me if I'm totally wrong.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:15:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29676168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Styfas/pseuds/Styfas
Summary: Harry Goodsir calls Georgie Chambers to his cabin to give back a naked daguerreotype he had taken of him.  He ends up keeping it.  And Georgie.(This scenario is a follow-up to the divergent back story inA Sweet Enterprise)Terror Bingo:  Free Space
Relationships: George William Chambers/Harry D. S. Goodsir
Kudos: 5
Collections: The Terror Bingo





	Enthusiasm

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I thank [Drac](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drac), who introduced me to The Terror in the first place, and support me by reading (not exactly beta reading, but "filtering" - if that makes sense) my supposed final versions of fics. 🧡 
> 
> Disclaimers: I don't/didn't know George Chambers or Harry Goodsir, RIP to both. 💔 I don't know either "character" as realized in AMC The Terror. Those characters belong to AMC, producers, directors, actors, and anyone else who had anything to do with that TV programme.
> 
> This is fiction - and I am making not one red cent from it.

Harry looks at his daguerreotype of Georgie Chambers and releases a wistful sigh just as the knock comes at his cabin door.

He turns the daguerreotype over, the image facing the floor. “Come in!”

There’s no answer, and the door remains closed.

He’d thought Georgie would come rushing in at the invitation, considering how bold he’s been in the last few weeks: the surprise hug and kiss in the sick bay and the request that Harry take a daguerreotype of him naked – and then, at the end of the session, telling him to keep it after it was developed. Harry has kept it for a time, and has enjoyed it – frequently, and in a solitary sexual way. But Georgie’s too young; it wouldn’t be proper to pursue a relationship with him. Convention doesn’t allow for an eight-year age difference. As fond as he is of the boy, this obsession can’t continue.

“Chambers, is that you?”

Still no answer. Strange.

Harry slides the door open. Georgie stands there, smiling, eager. Eager for what, Harry has a good guess. But he invited the boy here specifically to quell that eagerness. And his own. “Come in, Chambers.”

“Is that an order, Sir?”

“I don’t give orders. Just come in. It’s all right.” He backs up a few steps to allow him in.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Close the door, please.”

“Yes, Sir.”

They face each other for a moment, silent. The lad is adorable: a cherub on Earth. A round, fresh face with perfect pale skin and a bit of blush to his cheeks. Full shell-pink lips. Wavy locks of sandy brown hair beg to be touched and mussed up. His grey-blue eyes further lend an innocent quality – although Harry knows the lad’s capable of acting anything but innocent in his presence. Harry knows Georgie’s physique to be firm, but not too muscular. He saw nearly every inch of that physique during the daguerreotype session a few weeks ago. They’re the same height; their bodies would mesh well together. It would take only a few steps forward from each before they’d be lost in each other’s arms. 

“You wanted to see me, Sir?” Chambers asks, eyes sparkling, cheeks pinkening beyond the usual. 

“Yes. I thought this would be best done in private, and not in view of your shipmates.” Harry’s chest goes warm with desire. He’d like to do so much more than just speak with the lad. He’d like to kiss him, here and now; really _kiss_ him, and be teaching him _how_ to kiss in the process. His stomach flutters as he thinks of what he’d like to do from there: he’d slowly undress Georgie, invite the lad to undress him, then gently urge him down to his bed for reclining hugs, snogging, and explorations of each other’s bodies, until…

No. He’s eight years older than Georgie. The boy should have a lover his own age. And so should he.

Harry presents the downturned daguerreotype. “Chambers, I’d like you to take this. I don’t feel I should keep it.”

“Is it not good enough? Should we have another session?” 

“No, it’s… good. It’s a good likeness.” Everything about the image is perfect, from head to toe: Georgie flashing an impish smile, one arm lifted with his hand behind his head, while supporting his lovely long cock in the other hand. 

“But you’ve kept it for two weeks already. Don’t you like it?”

Harry clears his throat. “I’ve kept it tucked away for when I could find the right moment to give it to you. Now I need you to take it. This shouldn’t belong to me.”

“Why not?”

Harry takes a breath and suspends it, steeling himself. He looks into those enchanting grey-blue eyes and speaks slowly and steadily, hoping to convey a simple statement of fact, rather than a confession. “I know exactly why you wanted me to keep this daguerreotype, Chambers.”

A hint of a smile creeps up on Georgie’s lips.

“And, while I’m flattered, I do think it’s best that you take it now.” Indeed, best that Harry doesn’t keep pleasuring himself, night after night, inspired by the image of Georgie’s naked body, and by the memory of the session that brought it about. “I can’t keep this in my cabin any longer.”

Georgie manages a nod, his brow tight, and his beautiful lips in a pout. He doesn’t speak, and he makes no effort to take the daguerreotype.

“Believe me, this is nothing personal. You’re a fine lad. I do admire your enthusiasm and your confidence, and that you’re not afraid to take risks. I know all of those qualities have served you well as a ship’s boy, and I’m certain they’ll continue to serve you throughout your life.”

Still no answer.

“It’s not my intention to hurt you, but I must say this. I think you should endeavor to focus your energy – and your attentions – on someone closer to your own age.” There. Harry said it – and it hurts _him_.

Georgie’s thinking: Harry can see it in his darting eyes and parted lips. Is he absorbing the full meaning of the words, or trying instead to come up with another angle for discussion? 

“Chambers, you do realize we’re eight years apart.”

“Only seven with my birthday coming up in two weeks,” Georgie blurts out.

Harry’s chuckle comes unbidden. He hopes Georgie won’t think he’s laughing at him. It’s the logic that tickles him: a boy’s logic to be sure, but Harry’s amused that he didn’t think of it himself.

“Mr. Goodsir, I think we could-”

“There is no ‘we,’” Harry says, against his better instinct. “There never was.” 

Georgie still hasn’t taken the daguerreotype. Harry will need to place it in the boy’s hands himself – which will involve touching him, but so be it. It’s probably what the boy wants. Harry can’t deny that he wants it for himself, too.

He takes one of Georgie’s hands in his and turns it, palm up. He places the daguerreotype in his hand, then takes his other hand and closes it on top. 

As Harry envelops Georgie’s soft, warm closed hands in his, he fights to stop thinking about how much he’d like to touch other areas of the boy’s body. One thing he knows for certain; he mustn’t allow any hint of a caress when he releases Georgie’s hands. No softening of his grip before he lets go, and no slow brushing of fingertips against skin as he withdraws. 

He pulls his hands away in one quick motion. “I suggest you be discreet with that, so others won’t see it.”

“Yes, Sir,” Georgie says in an airy voice. 

“We have an understanding, then.” 

Georgie nods, his brow crinkling, his eyes shimmering.

“It’s for the best, Chambers,” Harry says, forcing the words and the smile that comes after.

Without a word, Georgie turns to go, not waiting for an order of dismissal or a goodbye.

Harry drops his chin with a sigh. All of this feels wrong. It was supposed to be a relief to let him go, for Georgie’s sake as well as his own. He thought it would be a weight lifted from his heart, but instead the weight has magnified. He wonders if Georgie will ever be able to look at him again – and if he’ll ever be able to look at Georgie without wishing there could have been a different outcome. 

But there _can_ be a different outcome. This doesn’t need to be an ending; rather, it’s an opportunity. Damn their age difference, damn convention, and damn his self-imposed concept of what is – or isn’t – “proper.” He rushes forward and claps his hand on the boy’s shoulder. 

_“Georgie!”_

The boy turns.

“I am _so sorry._ ” 

Georgie pulls away. “Don’t patronise me. Let me go.” 

Harry puts firm, steady hands against Georgie’s upper arms. “I can’t. And I _won’t_.” Roles reversed, it’s Harry who impulsively pulls Georgie into his arms, kissing him without reservation. The lad doesn’t resist. 

“I need to explain something to you,” Harry says.

“Sir?”

“Firstly, on this side of the door, it’s Harry. Please, call me Harry. And it’s Georgie, isn’t it? Or would you prefer George?”

“Whatever you like, Sir.”

Harry resists the urge to roll his eyes. Fine; he can be _Sir –_ for now. He’ll have plenty of time to teach him otherwise. “I meant every word I said about all the qualities I admire in you. But… the rest of it…” 

“Sir?”

Harry relaxes the embrace. “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t being totally honest with you. I’ve had this notion that it’s not proper to be involved with someone eight – or _seven_ – years younger than me. Because it _is_ unusual, yes? How many couples do you know with that much of an age difference between them?”

Georgie shrugs and shakes his head.

“Most of what I said to you was meant for _my_ benefit. I was saying what I thought I needed to hear and trying to convince myself that we shouldn’t be involved with each other because of that age difference. Well. It didn’t work. I’m not convinced.”

“I’m of age, Sir.” He says it as simply as if stating that the sky is blue.

Harry nods. “Exactly.” 

“And If you’ll pardon my saying, Sir, it’s just like someone your age to worry about being proper and all.”

“Someone my age? Georgie, I’m not _that_ much older than-”

“ _Exactly_ ,” Georgie says, following up with a smug smile.

Harry chuckles. He could happily grow accustomed to the lad’s cheek. 

“Does this mean you’ll take the daguerreotype back?’

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

“So, you _do_ like it after all.” 

“Very much,” Harry says, a sudden heat filling his cheeks. He takes it and sets it on his desk. He turns to face the lad. “Stay, Georgie.”

“Is that an order?”

“A request.”

Georgie steps forward to meet him, initiating the next embrace and its accompanying kiss. 

Harry can finally relax; this is how a mutually intended first kiss should be. It’s not one man plastering his mouth desperately against the other’s, but each one tenderly giving and taking in equal measure, their lips fitting together perfectly. 

The lad’s contented sighs tempt Harry to go further. Heart hammering in his chest, he dares to loosen Georgie’s cravat and open his shirt’s top button. He applies his lips and teeth to Georgie’s neck in a series of gentle nibbles, causing the boy to moan.

He brings his head up to meet the boy’s gaze. Their eyes locked, he slowly works at Georgie’s coat buttons. The boy’s chest quickly rises and falls with shallow breaths as his coat is removed. Next, Harry’s fingers are at Georgie’s waistcoat buttons. 

“Will you teach me, Harry?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Teach me. I’ve never…”

Harry leans in for another kiss. “We’ll be learning from each other,” he says. “Will you be all right with that?”

Georgie responds by placing his hand directly on the bulge at Harry’s crotch.

Harry smiles his way through the next kiss. Ah, _that’s_ the Georgie he knows.

**Author's Note:**

> Here Harry's so worried about an age difference, and yet - Bridgens and Peglar, HELLO!?!??!
> 
> I mentioned in the summary portion that this is a follow-up to the backstory in **A Sweet Enterprise** . Whatever Terror fic page you might be reading from, that fic is on the next page. (There's another one before that, too) If it's possible to have a "series" or a "collection" sort of after the fact, I'll see about lumping them together. (Oh, and at least one more to come in the "chronology.") 
> 
> Thanks for reading, I do appreciate it. ❤


End file.
